Pages

Thursday, October 11, 2018

Jornath: The Sect Recidivia

Pontry Contras, scrabbled through the dust-choked valley of bookcases and data terminals, the soft hum of his flock of servo-skulls the only sound disturbing the crypt-like silence of the Librarum Est Tricondriari. He arrived at his objective in short order, picking up with his work, where had left off only a few hours before. A hand of pistons and iron gripped yet another book of deeds and actions of the noble families of the Jornathii, and deftly begins to turn page after page, Contras' cognito-enhancements absorbing and categorizing the information on each page in a heartbeat, while a lexigraphic node scribbled away on an auto-quill implanted on his back, recording the necessary alterations the adept superior felt needed to be implemented.

"Thrice benighted planetaries..." Contras breathed annoyed to himself

"What even is a..."Jurl"... that will have to go." he continued stumbling over the unfamiliar titles.

With a harsh metallic screech, a data log popped up from the mechanisms on his back, the lexigrapher having finished its work. With the tone, one of the servo skulls descended and picked up the log, before floating off to add it to the ever-growing mountain of such logs filling the chambers of the Sect Recidivia's chamber house here in Kula Hive.

Barely paying the skull any mind, Contras placed the book back upon the shelf and moved to the next, and the activity of exasperation and annoyed scribbling would play out once more.

The Sect Recidivia

The Sect would find its origins upon the Sector Capital of Casa Urient, that shrine worlds various factions of the Administratum constantly battling with one another and the Ecclessiarchy about what version of history should be preserved and which should be placed upon the crematoria pyres. The Sect, believes in homogeny above all else, attempting to get as many worlds as close as possible to mirroring the titles and systems of the Adeptus Terra as it can, which means in many cases the destruction of local held titles and systems of government, which they typically view as unnecessary fat on the body of government.

While they have been met with limited success on Casa Urient, the Sect has tried to preempt its rivals within the neighboring systems, setting forth thousands of adepts to hundreds of worlds within the Urient Sector. On Jornath, the Sect Recidivia has been viewed with at best suspicion and disgust, and at worst with outright hostility. It is no secret that the Jornathi are not fond of off-worlders and are very proud of their traditions and culture. Though, the Sect Adepts come from the capital and carry the licenses of authority from that governmental position, and so must be tolerated.

For nearly five centuries, several hundred members of the Sect have combed the major libraries and studied Jornaths system of administration and each year have compiled an exhaustive list of changes and alterations, that should be imposed upon the planet. Not least amongst these changes was the total abolition of the Roll of Honored Families, the cornerstone of the Feudal system on the planet, and the forfeiture of all private property over to larger state-run blocs controlled by the Administratum. Each of these proposals has "tragically" been lost or mired in beauracracy as to have been effectively stopped indefinitely, though the Sect seems not to notice the outward hostility, nor the seemingly pointless nature of their exercise on the world.

With the outbreak of the Ork Invasion and the struggle for the Jornaths survival spurring on sweeping changes to the military organization of the planets defense forces to be more effectively coordinated in mutual defense rather than in opposition to rival lords and guilds. The Sect Recidivia pushed their agenda of homogenous governance ever harder, even petitioning high ranking off-world members of the Astra Militarum for audiences to back their proposed changes to the government of the world. While none of the Imperial commanders even bothered to entertain the notion, many members of the Jornathii Noble families and of the Honored Guild Houses saw this as a blatant attempt at a coup by the Sect.

Tensions would continue to rise, until the autumn of the War for Jornath's third year, when a high ranking member of the Sect Recidivia on Jornath, a man named Jakub Gendricoll was found dead in his private apartments in the Deadalus Spire of Oakenzid Hive. The enforcers who investigated the man's demise blamed heart failure, though the Sect's own investigations quickly blamed the multiple gunshot wounds as the cause of death. The Sect Recidivia accused the Guilder Houses of Oakenzid Hives as having conspired to kill an agent of the Golden Throne, a bold accusation which would on many worlds have caused a series of Arbites raids and the deployment of a PDF regiment to maintain order during the investigation. Jornath though was embroiled in the middle of a system-wide battle against Orks, and the Sect was despised as political dissidents by the systems government. With its hand forced the director of the Sect on the planet requisitioned the aid of a Rogue Trader named Isandore Mandic, hiring his Voidsmen to act as a personal security detail and "enforcement body" for the vital work of the Sect on the planet.

There are some that worry Sect aligned Voidsmen might soon come to blows with Guild Mustermen in the terraces of the Deadalus Spire, though even if fighting should break out among the two factions it will likely be eclipsed by the greater conflict, becoming just another footnote in the War for Jornath.

Thanks for reading! This post was a part of an ongoing narrative campaign, in the "living setting" of Jornath. For more information about Jornath as a setting, including units, missions, and posts from other Jornath bloggers be sure to click on the Jornath [40k] tab at the top of this page for an up to date list of all posts.

1 comment:

Surely the high command and other factions will be looking out for dissenting voices during a war which is a clear existential threat to the rule of man on Jornath ? I can the space marine Kill Teams arming up from here.